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308 lines
12 KiB
Text
308 lines
12 KiB
Text
How to get a Tascam US-122 working with Slackware 13.37 and later.
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[ 20140823 bkw: updated to include usbcore.autosuspend=-1 ]
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The Tascam US-122 is a bus-powered USB 1.1 audio interface, with 2
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channels of input (either 1/4" unbalanced or XLR balanced) and adjustable
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direct monitoring. See Tascam's product page for more information (Links
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section, below).
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These directions might also be useful for the US-224 and US-428. There are
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also US-122MkII and US-144MkII units which are cosmetically different,
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but might be the same thing internally (or might not; I don't have one
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for testing).
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Before you start: the US-122 is bus-powered, and draws quite a bit more
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power than your average USB device (though not more than the 500mA that
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the USB specification says USB ports/hubs should support). It probably
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won't work with cheap powered USB hubs (it may be detected & show up
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in alsamixer, but fail to actually play any audio). It will of course
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never work with an unpowered hub. It's also possible (but unlikely) that
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it could fry a cheap motherboard, if plugged in without a hub. If you're
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even slightly worried about this, I'd recommend getting a decent powered
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hub (one that says it supports "high power" or "hi-power" USB devices).
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You should read the owner's manual (see Links, below). Obviously you
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can skip the parts about installing/using the Windows/Mac drivers and
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software (which is most of the manual actually), but the product specs
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in the back are informative.
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Unlike some other "USB mixer" devices, the Tascam isn't just plug and
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play on Slackware Linux systems. Although it appears as a standard
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class-compliant USB audio interface (and also as a MIDI interface),
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it requires its firmware to be sent over the USB cable each time it's
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plugged in. Presumably, this is to save on cost (no ROM or flash is
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required inside the unit), and to allow for easy firmware upgrades.
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To get the device to work, you'll need the firmware itself, the firmware
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loader utility, and some udev rules that cause the firmware loader to
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be run when the device it plugged in. Read on for the gory details...
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To start with, leave the device unplugged.
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The commands below assume you have root access (either logged in as root,
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or via "su -". Don't use "su" without the hyphen though).
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Steps
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-----
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1. For 3.x series kernels, you'll have to disable USB autosuspend.
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Actually this is a good idea for any system that uses USB audio, or
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even any desktop system that doesn't need to save every last milliwatt
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of power possible. If you don't do this, the US-122 will usually work
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for a few seconds, then freeze up with "incomplete URB" messages in dmesg.
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In Slackware's kernels, usbcore is built into the kernel (even the
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-generic one), so you'll have to pass a parameter on the kernel's
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command line.
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In /etc/lilo.conf, in the section for your kernel, add a line like
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this:
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append="usbcore.autosuspend=-1"
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If you already had an append=, add usbcore.autosuspend=-1 to the options
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inside the double-quotes. An example might be:
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append="threadirqs usbcore.autosuspend=-1"
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(BTW, threadirqs is a useful option for systems that need low latency for
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realtime audio).
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Don't forget to re-run "lilo" and reboot after editing lilo.conf.
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There's another method for disabling autosuspend that doesn't require
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a reboot. Do this:
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# echo "-1" > /sys/module/usbcore/parameters/autosuspend
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# for i in /sys/bus/usb/devices/*/power/autosuspend; do
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# echo "-1" > $i
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# done
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Put that code in /etc/rc.d/rc.local (or in a separate script that gets
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called from rc.local) so it will execute on every boot.
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2. To get the US-122 working without audio glitches:
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# echo 'options snd_usb_usx2y nrpacks=1' > /etc/modprobe.d/tascam.conf
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What this does is reduce the number of audio packets sent in each USB
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packet. Without this, the Tascam worked, but every few seconds its
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audio would get "scratchy" sounding (due to dropped samples). When this
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happened, I was using jack, and it didn't report any x-runs. I don't
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really understand why nrpacks works, I found it by googling (see the
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links section, below).
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3. Install fxload and alsa-tools from slackbuilds.org.
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# sbopkg -i fxload alsa-tools
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If you prefer, you can download the SlackBuild tarballs and build them
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manually, instead of using sbopkg.
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If you're not actually using Slackware, or if you decide to compile
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alsa-tools without using the slackbuilds.org package, see the "Udev Rules"
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section of this document.
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4. Plug in the device.
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After a couple of seconds, the green USB light on the Tascam should light
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up. The snd_usb_usx2y should be auto-loaded by udev (check the output of
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"lsmod").
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5. Testing
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Have a look at the output of "aplay -l", and/or run alsamixer and press
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F6. The card should show up as "USX2Y [TASCAM US-X2Y]". It will probably
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be device #1 (the numbering starts at zero, and your internal/onboard
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audio normally shows up as device #0).
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Example:
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# aplay -l
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**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
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card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC269 Analog [ALC269 Analog]
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Subdevices: 1/1
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Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
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card 1: USX2Y [TASCAM US-X2Y], device 0: US-X2Y Audio [US-X2Y Audio #0]
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Subdevices: 1/1
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Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
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Since it's card #1, we should be able to use it to play an mp3 or ogg file
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with mplayer, like so:
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# mplayer -ao alsa:device=hw=1 somesong.mp3
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You can use some other audio player, if you don't have mplayer installed.
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Whatever you use, set its audio device to "hw:1" (no, the "device=hw=1"
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above isn't a typo, it's how you tell mplayer to use "hw:1". Really.)
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Obviously you need speakers or headphones plugged into the Tascam, to
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actually hear anything. Also, the headphone and main volumes have to be
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turned up. There's no software volume control (you can't use alsamixer
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or KDE's volume control), you'll have to actually turn the knobs :)
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Troubleshooting
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---------------
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If you don't hear any audio, and/or mplayer (or whatever audio playing
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app) gives error messages and/or freezes up, the Tascam might not be
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getting enough power. Run "dmesg|tail" and look for messages like:
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[623530.547384] Sequence Error!(hcd_frame=226 ep=10out;wait=226,frame=223).
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[623530.547386] Most propably some urb of usb-frame 226 is still missing.
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[623530.547387] Cause could be too long delays in usb-hcd interrupt handling.
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Try a different powered USB hub, or try it in a USB port on the PC itself.
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Once you get everything working, you should be able to use the US-122
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with jack (with or without qjackctl). Make sure to enable the MIDI ports
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(-Xseq on the jackd command line) if you plan to use them.
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(Apparently, the US-428 requires a daemon called us428control to be
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running, to get the MIDI controls to work. I haven't got a US-428 so I
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don't know anything about this)
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JACK Latency
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------------
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As a USB 1.x device, the Tascam's audio latency is going to be pretty
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awful. To measure it, you loop the output back into the input, and run
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jack_delay (I used a 1/4" guitar cable, connected from the headphone
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output to the left line input jack). Make sure the "Direct Monitoring"
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switch is off, or else it will feed back and jack_delay won't be able
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to measure anything.
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I've measured my Tascam with jack_delay. Results:
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# jack_delay -I system:capture_1 -O system:playback_1 -E
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210.625 frames 4.388 ms
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To get jack-using applications to compensate for latency, use the -I and
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-O options. jack_delay's README says:
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To determine the correct values for jack's -I and -O, set both
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of them to zero ('default' in qjackctl) and measure the latency
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using the -E option. Then set each of the -I and -O options to
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half the value displayed.
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The options can't be fractional, so I use "-I 105 -O 105", which seems
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to work OK. My complete jackd command line looks like:
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/usr/bin/jackd -Z -R -P65 -dalsa -dhw:1 -r48000 -p256 -n3 -Xseq -I105 -O105
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With these settings, I'm able to use fluidsynth, beatrix, bristol,
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and other audio synths. I use a USB MIDI keyboard, but you could
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use the Tascam's MIDI in jack with a standard MIDI keyboard as well.
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ardour and ecasound also work for recording audio, though I haven't
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tested them thoroughly.
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I haven't experimented with the -p and -n options. Lower values would
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mean less latency, at the expense of more CPU and I/O overhead. I'm using
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the Tascam with an eeePC (relatively slow single core Intel Atom CPU),
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you might do better on faster hardware... but don't expect miracles:
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USB 1.1 just plain doesn't move data fast enough to get truly low latency
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audio. You'd need USB 2.0 (expensive, proprietary) or better yet, Firewire
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(also expensive) for that.
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If you can't seem to get rid of audio problems any other way, try
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(in order):
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- make sure jackd and your audio applications have the appropriate
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POSIX capabilities (e.g. setcap cap_ipc_lock,cap_sys_nice=ep
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/usr/bin/jackd)
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- add append="threadirqs" in lilo.conf (re-run lilo, reboot)
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- use the rtirq script from http://www.rncbc.org/jack/
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- recompile the kernel with CONFIG_PREEMPT=y
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- Use a realtime-patched kernel
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from http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/rt/
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There is a lot of info out there on the 'net about reducing latency
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and/or x-runs in jack. You'll get it working if you're persistent.
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Miscellaneous
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-------------
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This isn't Slackware- or Linux-specific information, but it's not covered
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real well in the owner's manual either.
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Unlike some other "USB mixer" devices, the Tascam won't work as a
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standalone mixer. It's USB-powered, and needs its firmware loaded.
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The Direct switch sends whatever's coming in on the inputs, directly to
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the output, with no latency. In ardour, select "Options > Hardware does
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monitoring" to use this. If you want to use the Tascam + your computer
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as a live guitar effects rig (maybe using rakarrack, jack-rack, and/or
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sooperlooper), this needs to be disabled.
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The inputs are labelled L and R (left and right). When the Mono switch
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is in the On position, both channels are mixed together and appear on
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the left and right outputs (and on both system:capture_* ports in jack).
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The device still appears to be stereo from jack and alsa's point of view
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(just with identical audio on both channels).
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The insert jacks are described as "TRS jacks" in the manual. This means
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tip-ring-sleeve. Probably you'll need a stereo 1/4" Y-cable (with two
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mono 1/4" plugs or jacks on the other end) to make any use of the inserts.
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I haven't tried them yet. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS_connector
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There are no software-controllable mixer controls. You can only adjust
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the volume with the hardware knobs (separate ones for headphone and
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line outputs).
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You can't use the US-122's controls as a MIDI control surface. From what
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I've read, the US-428 is capable of this.
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Links
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-----
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Tascam US-122 product page: http://tascam.com/product/us-122/
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The owner's manual is in the "Downloads" section.
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These instructions were adapted from the Fedora Core 5 instructions here:
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http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~mcs/tascam_us122/
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Ubuntu forum topic about Tascam devices (there's a lot of noise, but some
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useful info too):
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http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=30891
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The US-122L, US-122MkII, and US-144 are apparently completely different
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beasts. Here are a couple of pages discussing them (which may contain
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outdated information, YMMV):
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http://www.premiumorange.com/la-page-web-of-phil/index.php?page=P030001
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http://mailman.alsa-project.org/pipermail/alsa-devel/2011-November/045912.html
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Udev Rules
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----------
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If you used the slackbuilds.org package of alsa-tools, you don't need
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this (it already includes a suitable set of udev rules for the US-122,
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US-224, and US-428).
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# cat > /lib/udev/rules.d/99-tascam.rules <<EOF
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SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ACTION=="add", SYSFS{idProduct}=="8006", SYSFS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/sbin/fxload -D %N -s /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/tascam_loader.ihx -I /usr/share/alsa/firmware/usx2yloader/us122fw.ihx'"
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SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ACTION=="add", SYSFS{idProduct}=="8007", SYSFS{idVendor}=="1604", RUN+="/bin/sh -c '/usr/bin/usx2yloader'"
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EOF
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(the above is two long lines, each beginning with "SUBSYSTEMS==". There
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shouldn't be any other line breaks)
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For the US-224, change the "us122fw.ihx" above to "us224fw.ihx", and
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change the SYSFS{idProduct} numbers to 8004 and 8005. For the US-428,
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the firmware is "us428fw.ihx" and the product IDs are 8000 and 8001.
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After creating the udev rules file, tell udevd to load it:
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# udevadm control --reload-rules
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Author
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------
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B. Watson (yalhcru at gmail dot com)
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If you find anything confusing or inaccurate in this guide, or have more
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information (particularly about the other Tascam US-series interfaces),
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let me know and I'll update the guide at some point.
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